Ab Initio
by Relyan
Summary: This is a brief story detailing how Katherine and ObiWan first met. An idea generated by Flesca. Thanks.


**Ab Initito (from the beginning)**

Flesca, it is with grateful appreciation for your diligent reviews that I dedicate this story to you, so that I may be worthy of your kind approbations.

Light from the sun broke through the clouds easily, casting a golden shield over budding trees and rolling hills. Drops of morning dew clung to soft blades of grass, gleaming like silver crystals as the sun reached over the land. Flowers swayed gently as a cool breeze passed through their seas of color, forcing them to dance in a strange and gaudy masquerade.

Dawn broke, mixing its velvets of pink and violet with the brazen Pleiades as it determined to shine its fading light over the Earth in its final moments of nightly celebrity. No creature stirred, and not a sound was made. Peace and stillness presided in the heavens.

Below, the city raged. Cars and trucks blared their horns loudly as they took advantage of the sparse early morning traffic; workers rubbed their eyes groggily as they left their places of employment, eager to get home and sleep as their replacements grumbled softly, clutching their coffee - the coarse styrofoam scraping at their fingers the only indication that another day had begun.

Storeowners struggled to undo the layers of chains that protected their wares from desperate thieves as the sun began to peak between the tall buildings; police officers lounged in the many 24-hour stores, glad for the calm; and the homeless stirred from their makeshift beds to collect what scraps the world had to offer them.

The sun rose slowly over the waking city, casting long shadows over the busy people and chilling them with the touch of its frozen rays. Katherine shivered as the sun flared into sight overhead, and pushed against the throng of sleepy people as she made her way to work. She shook off the cold with a quick shrug of the shoulders, and tightened her jacket around herself as she ran through her list of chores for the day.

She tried to remember all of the things she was supposed to do, but they weren't coming to her head. _James is going to kill me if I don't get everything done_. A small smile crept on her face as she thought of her boss; he worked her hard, but she knew it was because he thought of her as an equal. _Well, if I'm his equal then why don't I give him an 'equal' amount of my work to do? _Her smile widened as she reflected on this.

After her sixth failed attempt to remember her work she let out a sigh of frustration. It was difficult to think with a mass of people surrounding her, so Katherine pushed and shoved her way through the disgruntled crowd to the side of the street.

She leaned against a nearby building and breathed deeply in order to clear her thoughts. _Call Anne, talk to David about the report, confirm lunch meeting with Mr. Whathisface, type up memos for James - _If only she could remember what else she had to do!

Katherine shook her head in defeat and smoothed her long brown hair. _Oh well, _she thought, _I'll just have to look busy for an hour._ She laughed at this, straightened her jacket, adjusted her purse, squared her shoulders and made her way back in to the growing herd of white-collared workers.

Fifteen minutes later and a small detour to a bakery, she stood across the street from her building, waiting for the crosswalk to turn green. Stubborn by nature, she was still trying to think of her tasks for the day as she mindlessly ate a bagel from the bakery. She was hoping for a flash of inspiration, but the cinnamon from the bread allowed her to think of nothing but food.

Still thinking of work, James and the wonders of bagel making, Katherine stepped out into the street. She was halfway across when she heard someone scream. She turned to see what was happening but was blinded by flashing headlights.

Vaguely she heard squealing tires before her world went dark.

The figure of a robed man moved quickly through the congested streets of Coruscant. He was obviously in a hurry to get somewhere; he bumped into numerous people and creatures and made no move to apologize. He received many impolite comments in return, but the man did not seem to hear them.

His face was set in determination to get to his destination, though he himself had no idea where exactly he was going.

His long cloak and his obvious disregard to conceal the smooth cylindrical weapon at his side identified him as a jedi. Many creatures moved away from him, some out of respect, others from terror. If there was one thing a person could predict about a jedi, it was that they are unpredictable. The creatures that took this to heart did their best to avoid the determined jedi.

He sighed as he moved through the streets and brushed some of his dark blonde hair away from his face. This was insane. A few minutes ago he had been preparing to go to Kamino, but a slight tremor in the Force had caused him to abandon his preparations. He had felt tremors before, but this one was difficult to ignore; it felt as if the Force was directing him to the source of the disturbance.

He fingered his lightsaber lightly, ready to defend himself if the need arose. He couldn't sense any malice coming from the Force, but with the reappearance of the sith he had learned not to put too much faith into anything; you never knew when you could be walking into a trap.

_Trust your feelings, Obi-Wan_, he told himself. _Doubt will only deepen the siths' influence._

He had long since left the crowd of people behind and now found himself walking in a deserted area. He didn't like this one bit, but he pushed away his fear and continued, letting the Force guide him to wherever he was supposed to go.

Sensing a change in the Force, Obi-Wan stopped walking and looked around. This was where he was needed, but he didn't see anything immediately. Traffic rushed by overhead and the long shadows of the towering buildings could be hiding any kind of scum.

Obi-Wan thought he saw movement within the shadows. He unhooked his lightsaber and slowly moved forward. He could vaguely see the outline of some creature lying sprawled near a huge column. He raised his saber and ignited the blade. The light from the blue blade shown down on the creature, and he gasped at what he saw.

A young woman with a deep gash on her forehead was lying on the ground, unconscious.

He quickly deactivated his blade and kneeled down next to the girl. He checked her vitals, and was relieved to find that she was not in any immediate danger. The gash on her forehead looked painful, and Obi-Wan gently brushed some of her dark hair away from the wound to get a better look at it.

He lightly brushed her skin while moving her hair, and the woman moaned in pain. Obi-Wan's blue eyes briefly glanced at the girl, then he resumed his examination of the injury.

It seemed to him that she had hit her head on something, hard. But what? He could see nothing nearby that could have caused the injury or that would explain how she had gotten to the place on her own. There were no blood stains or marks to suggest a struggle; everything looked as if the woman had simply fallen from the sky and landed here, leaving her surroundings absolutely clean.

The jedi frowned. That didn't make sense at all. He looked into the woman's face. She seemed young enough, maybe twenty-two or twenty-three. He took her hand in his and began rubbing it, trying to revive her.

"Miss?" He asked, "Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

His only response was a small whimper as he squeezed her hand a little too hard.

He sighed. He was no Healer, but...

He placed his hands gently over her head, took a deep breath, and sent a burst of energy to the woman using the Force. He removed his hands and sat back to see the results of his work.

After ten minutes a low groan told Obi-Wan that the woman was beginning to wake up. Her eyes opened and she blinked a couple of times to let her eyes adjust to the dark lighting. She attempted to sit up, but the ache in her head was too much for her.

Obi-Wan quickly helped the woman, placing his hands on her back to support her. One of her hands flew to her head and she gasped at the sudden combination of dizziness and pain.

"Miss, are you all right?"

The woman looked up at Obi-Wan and blinked, trying to focus on his face. "Yeah," she finally said, "if this giant bump is just my imagination."

She touched her head again and winced. "But I guess not."

"I believe you hit your head on something. Can you remember what it was?" Obi-Wan asked, watching the woman to make sure that she wasn't too disoriented.

The woman's face contorted as she tried to remember, and her eyes became distant. She didn't speak for a long time, then she turned to Obi-Wan and spoke very slowly, as if she was having difficulty remembering what had happened.

"I remember...a light...a very...bright...light." She paused and furrowed her brow. "And...nothing after...except...you."

She gazed up at Obi-Wan. "Where am I?" She asked, slowly pulling her hair away from her face so she could get a better look at her savior.

"You're on Coruscant," he replied and watched as the woman blinked in confusion.

"Coruscant?"

At the tone of her voice. fear suddenly gripped the jedi, but he nodded his head in response. "Yes," he said carefully. "You have heard of it before, haven't you?"

The woman shook her head slowly as she tried to surface any memory of this Coruscant. "No," she murmured. "But, ah, how far to New York?"

"New York?"

"Yeah. It's important that I get there, though I'm...not sure...why."

Obi-Wan stared at the woman and mentally kicked himself. She had suffered a terrible blow to the head, and she was clearly confused. He had never heard of this New York before, but he needed to get her to some Healers before her delusions worsened.

"Miss, you need medical attention. Let me take you with me; I can get you some help."

The woman nodded slowly, and Obi-Wan helped her to her feet. She gasped at the abrupt change in balance, and she grabbed on to Obi-Wan's tunic to keep herself from falling. She put a hand to her head to stop the waves of dizziness and steadied herself. Obi-Wan put his arms on her waist to keep her still and held her until she had regained her center of balance.

"Ready?" He asked when her quickened breathing from the near-fall began to slow.

"Yes," she said, and they began walking to the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan kept an arm around her to make sure that she didn't fall again, and the woman kept a strong hold on his shoulders as she slowly began to regain her footing on the uneven ground.

The jedi turned to look at his ward, and he was surprised to see how beautiful she was. The light made clear just how bad her head wound was, and blood from the injury caked the right side of her face, but the sun accented other features as well.

He had been correct in guessing her age. She was young enough, at twenty-three. She was well-built and had a confident tilt to her head. Her eyes shown a deep emerald green that usually sparkled with merriment, but now were dulled with confusion. Her long dark brown hair was a tangled mess, but for some reason this primitive appearance appealed to him.

He shook his head to clear himself of such thoughts, and he wondered again why the Force had brought him to this woman.

"I don't understand it. Why now, and for what purpose?"

"Everything is half-hidden, half-revealed," the woman murmured quietly and tonelessly, as if reciting some memory that had suddenly surfaced from within her tumbled mind.

Obi-Wan looked at her in surprise. He hadn't realized until she had responded that he had voiced his thoughts. But then he smiled at the girl.

"Perhaps you are right," he returned and they continued to walk to the temple in silence.

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I am a Jedi Knight."

If the girl was familiar with jedi, she didn't show it; her face remained as blank and impassive as it had since the beginning of their journey to the temple.

"What it your name, if you can remember it?" Obi-Wan asked her.

"Katherine," she promptly replied. "My name is Katherine."

"Well, Katherine, welcome to Coruscant," the jedi smiled and directed her inside the giant temple.

Destiny is not something that a person can easily escape. Its paths lie deeply embedded in the past, present and future, and often people stumble upon them, never realizing their purpose.

For the savior and the saved an enormous path had been paved for them, stretching endlessly into space and time. And as they stepped into the temple, both were completely unaware that they were embarking on a long and dangerous journey that marked the beginning of the end of their entwined destinies.

A/N: In case anyone is wondering, Katherine got hit by a truck and somehow got transported to the Star Wars universe. She and Obi-Wan go through a lot together, and if you are interested in knowing what, read Legacy of a Knight and Tomorrow's Yesterday. To Flesca: I am working on a three - part story that follows Jacen through the events of ANH, Empire and Jedi. I hope to have the first part posted soon. Thank you so much for all of your reviews and support. It means a lot to me. - Relyan


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